Indian Chief Dark HorseYou never really know what kind of information you’ll find in certification documents. Turns out, Indian Motorcycle is finding that out first hand after cert docs from the California Air Resources Board revealed that one of the company’s 2016 offerings is the Chief Dark Horse .

It’s not that much of a bombshell considering that the Chief Dark Horse has long been a staple of Indian’s Chief model lineup, together with the likes of the Chief Classic , the Chieftain, the Chief Vintage , and the Roadmaster. The executive order from CARB also certifies that the 2016 Chief Dark Horse will make use of the same 1811cc Thunder Stroke 111 V-Twin engine that currently powers the aforementioned Chief models.

The document also showed a few specs about the new Dark Horse, including its equivalent inertial mass of 470 kg (1,036 pounds), making it around 10kg (22 pounds) lighter than the Chief Classic. Should that be the case, expect the 2016 Dark Horse to come in with a fueled-up weight of around 800 pounds.

All told, the information from CARB pretty much identifies the new Chief Dark Horse in similar terms as its predecessors. While there’s still a possibility that it could have some subtle engine updates, that scenario looks unlikely given the size of the engine it’s going to use.

Whatever the case may be, we can at least look forward to the possibility of seeing the new Chief Dark Horse sometime this year, possibly even at the 2015 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Indian’s been known to debut some of its models during the event in the past so don’t be surprised if Indian somehow brings the new Chief Dark Horse with it at Sturgis this coming August.